A medieval vending machine dispensing modern weapons would be unreliable, and would probably only accept medieval coinage. Conversely, a modern vending machine that accepted card payment and dispensed maces, halberds, folges and caltrops might be more satisfactory.

//Not necessarily. // I beg, yet again, to differ. One of the most pervasive features of the medieval period was its intense level of unreliability. They could just about get seige engines to work, but attempts to build a viable search engine were foiled by a combination of poor workmanship, supremely inept engineering, and mud, mud, mud. In fact, mud was the only thing that worked reliably in medieval times - so much so that it is often called "the mud age".

I beg to differ. You could apply for smallpox, and end up with syphilis; you might specifically request - and be assured you would get - typhoid, only to come down with tuberculosis. The entire ending up and coming down process was a complete shambles.

At least in Ye Goode Olde Daiys you didn't have to wait for weeks to get an appointment with a doctor to be told you're ill. It was much more private enterprise; you could get sick, die, and be thrown into a plague pit without having to get a diagnosis from a highly-paid professional.

Today, the special interest groups have got the getting-sick-and-dying thing all stitched up for their own benefit. Bastards.

I wonder why we associate medieval with mud? I mean,
obviously, its because thats what its like in the films. But
seriously, was there any mud at all? When? Where? I
wouldnt be surprised if it were more or less mudless. I
suspect it is because all the remaining photos have a sepia
tint, which makes it look as though everything were
covered in mud.

The folge is an ancient weapon from Norfolk, consisting of a nine-foot pole ending in a cluster of broad metal hooks, rather like the business end of a grappling hook. It was used mainly for unseating horsemen. Sometimes there was a long spike emerging from the centre of the cluster of hooks, for use as a stabbing weapon, though it was a bit unwieldy for such a use.